


history

by allhalethekings



Series: Tumblr Fics [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bad Puns, Getting Together, M/M, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, fireman!Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 08:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4341728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allhalethekings/pseuds/allhalethekings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Truth be told, it’s not what Derek had expected. Sure his coworkers had all given him weird looks but hell, the candle smelt good okay and when Kate had given it to him for Christmas last year, they’d laughed about it because well, Kate had a unique sense of humour.</p>
<p>Or at least he thought she did.</p>
<p>[In which Kate sets Derek's apartment on fire and hot fireman!Stiles rescues it.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	history

**Author's Note:**

> My co-worker texted my this image and I just couldn't resist. Apparently I have to Sterek EVERYTHING. 

Truth be told, it’s not what Derek had expected. Sure his coworkers had all given him weird looks but hell, the candle smelt  _good_  okay and when Kate had given it to him for Christmas last year, they’d laughed about it because well, Kate had a unique sense of humour.

Or at least he thought she did.

But as he stands outside his penthouse apartment slack-jawed, three firefighters bustling about inside extinguishing any more remains of a fire, he can’t help but laugh at how he misread the clues for so long. He’d been with Kate for a year and a half, having met her at a company event where she was the plus one of coworker who’s date had to cancel at the last minute. The coworker, Allison, had introduced Kate and Derek with a knowing twinkle in her eyes and it wasn’t long before Derek and Kate were exchanging numbers and going out on their first date. 

The rest was history, as they say.

So is his beautiful apartment, Derek thinks morosely. He’d broken up with Kate a month ago and it’d been an easy breakup. The relationship wasn’t working - it just didn’t have the same fire ( _not_  the time to be funny, he berates himself) as it once did and it was time to call it quits. Kate had taken it reasonably well though that’s probably another clue that Derek misread.

“So, Mr. Hale,” someone coughs behind him and Derek swivels around to see the _hottest_  firefighter he’s ever laid his eyes on. The man, probably in his mid-twenties, filled out the uniform so well that Derek’s eyes promptly glazed over before sharpening in on his face. He looked quite boyish, amber eyes focused solely on Derek in what seemed like concern. Derek’s eyes widen in poorly concealed surprise when the firefighter takes his helmet off, running a hand through his dark brown hair, strands slick with sweat. Oh god, he’s just so —

“Pretty,” Derek breathes, still in awe before promptly facepalming internally. 

If anything, he blames the shock of being called at his office only to hear his landlord wail about his apartment being  _set on fire_. The firefighter raises his brows at Derek, cupid bow lips threatening to curl into a smile but don’t, if only to maintain some level of professionalism.

“Right,” the firefighter says, waving his hands dismissively at Derek. “So the damage is pretty minimal, limited to the kitchen for the most part really.”

“Uh - that’s good,” Derek says but it comes out more like a question.

“Yes, it  _is_  good,” the Hottie McFireman affirms, amused. He motions for Derek to follow him inside the apartment now that the dust had settled a bit. Derek follows him, noting that yes, his apartment was relatively unscathed save for the kitchen and the surrounding space. His kitchen, arguably his favourite area in the entire apartment, looks ruined. The cabinets, once a deep brown, were now a charred black and most of the granite countertops were covered in a thick white layer of foam. His eyes quickly scan the entire kitchen area and yeah, everything would have to be replaced and restored.

“The fire didn’t spread?” Derek questions, barely looking at the firefighter anymore, instead stepping into the kitchen. His lungs fill with the smell of burnt wood mixed in with that of burnt plastic, the mixture producing a not-so-great smell that will probably take a long time for Derek to air out.

“Nah, one of your neighbours seemed to be passing by and smelt something burning inside. She called in the landlord and it got called in. If she hadn’t walked by when she did, your entire apartment would have probably burnt down,” he informs Derek.

“Undoubtedly what she wanted,” Derek mutters darkly, lifting up a blackened picture frame from the window right above the sink and lightly rubbing away the soot from the glass to reveal a picture of him, Laura, and Cora.

“Uh - what?”

“My ex-girlfriend,” Derek clarifies, still working away at the picture frame. “She’s the one who set the apartment on fire.”

He turns around to see the firefighter balking at Derek. Dark smudges are scattered around his neck and jawline and Derek can’t help but want to just rub away at those too. The last remaining firefighters filter in and out of the apartment, one of them giving them a quick glance before carrying all their equipment outside.

“You ex-girlfriend set your apartment on  _fire_? Is she insane?”

Derek shrugs, “Probably. I guess she  _did_  warn me.”

“How exactly?”

“For Christmas last year, she gave me a candle that said, ‘My love is like a candle. If you forget me, I will burn your fucking house down’ - I thought it was a joke gift but clearly it was more of a prediction.”

“Y’know, you seem pretty casual for a guy who’s ex-girlfriend tried to burn his apartment down,” the firefighter notes.

Derek nods, “Yeah. It’s my one plus point. I’m great in face of high-stress events but it’ll sink in soon enough and that’s when it’ll hit me full force.”

“You have a lot more plus points from where I stand,” he mumbles so quietly that Derek barely catches it. But then he looks up, face flushed and Derek can’t tell if it’s from the heat of the apartment or something more. “Right, well, Mr. Hale—“

“Derek,” he interrupts.

“Derek,” the firefighter continues, a smile on his face now. “I’d highly suggest talking to the police about this matter seeing as how you suspect it to be premeditated.”

“Obviously, I’m not dumb,” Derek glares but the firefighter snorts. “What’s your name?”

“Stilinski,” he answers, well-meaning humour giving way to confusion. “Well, Stiles, actually.”

“Well, I’m not dumb,  _Stiles_ ,” Derek repeats with emphasis. Stiles laughs, a sickeningly sweet sound.

“So you probably don’t need me to also strongly advise you to stay at someone else’s apartment for the next couple of days? Maybe a friend or family member?”

“Even though you  _just_  advised me?”

“Stealth advice,” Stiles corrects, winking.

“Not that stealthy if I caught it,” Derek snorts. “And yes, I can probably crash at my younger sister’s place.”

Stiles nods finally, like his work’s done. He shoots Derek one last smile before shuffling out of his now-empty apartment. His empty, almost-burned down apartment.

Derek looks around the kitchen one last time before fishing out his phone from his back pocket and dialling Cora’s number. As he relays the story to Cora, who’s downright furious and already making plans to hunt Kate down, Derek can’t help but feel like he just missed a huge opportunity for something that could’ve been really great.

* * *

Turns out, it wasn’t much of a missed opportunity because the next time he sees Stiles two weeks later, it’s at the same bar that he and Kate used to frequent. He’s alone but Stiles is surrounded by a group of people, telling an animated story if the way his hands are wildly gesturing around his person is any clue, clearly at the centre of attention. Derek stares for a little too long because in the next instant, Stiles’s attention flickers over to him and he wavers slightly before turning his attention back to his friends who were now beginning to laugh loudly.

Ten minutes later when Derek’s on his second whisky sour, a warm body slides next to him and he flusters openly when he realizes it’s Stiles. Stiles, who looks absolutely delectable in a dark red t-shirt that showed off his well-toned arms and tightly fitted dark wash jeans that left nothing to the imagination.

“You’re the guy who’s ex-girlfriend burned down his kitchen, right?” Stiles asks, no pretence of proper etiquette.

“You make it a point to remember all the people whose places you’ve saved?” Derek asks, ignoring how direct it seemed. The fact that someone had actually tried to burn his home down had finally hit him like a mack truck a few days ago and it’s partly the reason why he’s sitting here in the bar attempting to distract himself by way of drinking himself stupid. Or well, he was if he hadn’t seen Stiles here.

“Just the ones that are hot like burning,” Stiles shoots back easily before blanching. Derek raises his eyebrows at him, enjoying how bright red Stiles turns. “Fuck - sorry, I’ve clearly had a lot to drink and just made an epic idiot of myself.”

Stiles begins to back away, looking like he’s relatively ashamed of how epically his pick up line just failed, but Derek easily catches him by the arm. The instant their skin makes contact, Derek feels a small jolt in his stomach, the warmth of Stiles’s skin easily warming up Derek’s cold hand from when he’d held on to his drink.

“You’re pretty steamy yourself,” Derek says instead, a smile curling around his lips. His stomach swoops in a thrilling sensation when he sees Stiles gives him a beatific grin.

The rest, as they say, is history.

This time, forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up at: [tumblr](http://hales-republic.tumblr.com) // [twitter](http://twitter.com/allhalethekings). 
> 
> Send me prompts, flail with me over Hoechlin's eyes, let's be friends - the whole shebang.


End file.
